Labour inflames Tory spending row

Wednesday 6 April 2005 23:00 BST

Labour today tried to fan the flames of the Howard Flight affair after the Tories selected the former head of a right-wing think tank to replace him as a candidate.

Arundel and South Downs Conservatives last night chose Nick Herbert, former head of Reform, as their candidate at the May 5 election, after Tory leader Michael Howard sacked Mr Flight for implying his party had not been honest about its spending plans.

Labour immediately seized on an article written by Mr Herbert in The Spectator in 2002, where he said: "The whisper is that there is a top secret, extremely clever strategy afoot: go along with spending rises now, but return to a tax cutting agenda when - if - the party is re-elected".

Although Mr Herbert also went on to say the public would see through such a strategy, Labour pounced on the comments - which the Tories insisted had been taken "grossly out of context".

Mr Herbert said that he fully supported the party's tax and spending plans."I'm absolutely supportive of the party's policy on this matter," he said.

"I continue to believe that Michael Howard's policy of offering tax cuts ... is exactly the right one. It is the only party to have done so."

Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What has become clear in the last day of this campaign, particularly with the choice of Mr Herbert as the approved candidate in Arundel last night, is that there is a huge dividing line on economic policy.

"The Conservatives have an economic plan, as Mr Herbert himself said, repeating Mr Flight, it is top secret, it is an extremely clever strategy, it is to go along with spending rises now, the repositioning of the Tories, he said, is based on a lie."

Mr Brown added: "There is no doubt that he thinks there is a secret agenda, and one that would cut public spending very massively."